Co-op in Australian Saints Row IV Incompatible with Rest of the World

Aussies hoping to play Saints Row IV with overseas friends are out of luck, because the co-op mode in the modified Australian version will be incompatible with versions played by the rest of the world.

According to a post on the official Saints Row IV Facebook page, the omission of a particular 'loyalty' program which featured depictions of 'alien narcotics' is the cause of the issue.

"For this [Australian] version," the post reads, "we had to cut one optional Loyalty Mission from the game. Loyalty Missions are optional side missions that you can do with your homies. This mission in particular involves alien narcotics in the simulation, which eventually have a positive effect in terms of gameplay. As you cannnot depict any positive effect for using narcotics in video games in Australia, this was the reason the game was refused a classification.

Exit Theatre Mode

While we are very proud of all our different missions, we do feel that Saints Row IV on the whole remains largely the same without this single optional mission, and we also feel that you deserve to know what you are getting in Australia. Due to the changes we were forced to make, this version is different than the version rated by rating boards like the ESRB, USK, and PEGI, which is why it will be incompatible with those versions in co-op."

The news is hopefully the coda to the battle Saints Row IV has fought to get classified in Australia. Neighboring New Zealand, meanwhile, will receive the full, unedited version.

Confused about the Saints Row IV classification kerfuffle? Check out our thoughts on it here.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN at Luce_IGN_AU,or @Luceobrien on Twitter.